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Wilmington officials: Need great for social workers

By Katie Lannan, klannan@lowellsun.com

Updated:
01/07/2013 07:14:55 AM EST

WILMINGTON -- At the last School Committee meeting, high-school Principal Eric Tracy recounted a recent two-week period when he had been at three different homes, trying to coax students into going to school or help parents find the connections to get their child into a support program.

Tracy was speaking in favor of a provision in Superintendent of Schools Joanne Benton's preliminary budget request: an additional $52,016 to add a full-time social worker to the high-school staff.

The school district already has a social worker who divides her time between the middle and high schools, but school and district administrators say the need has risen dramatically, beyond what the current staff can provide.

"In my opinion, much of this has been driven by the economic downturn as families find themselves in difficult financial situations that dramatically increase the stress within the family structure," Tracy said.

A school social worker would work directly with students and families to help with social and emotional needs, including anxiety, behavioral issues and school-related fears. Currently, school administration and guidance counselors fill this role at Wilmington High School.

The school's guidance counselors deal more with academic areas, such as the college application process. With a caseload of around 230 students, it's difficult for guidance counselors "to be fully attentive given the long-term needs of the students and families," Tracy said.

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Tracy said faculty and staff "have seen a rather large increase in the past few years" of students and families coping with anxiety, depression and familial issues like divorce.

School social workers in Massachusetts are licensed through the state's Department of Elementary and Secondary Education and must be recertified every five years.

Professionals seeking to become licensed must have a master's degree in social work or counseling, plus coursework or clinical experience in areas including intellectual, social and emotional development; prevention of substance abuse and violence in students; learning disorders and their treatment; juvenile criminal justice and communicating with families and schools.

School social workers must also pass a literacy skills test and complete a 900-hour practicum, half of which must be spent working with students and families in a school setting.

Guidance counselors must be versed in a different but overlapping skillset. Along with knowledge of student development and prevention of drug abuse and violence, guidance counselors have more academically focused expertise. They're required to be familiar with psychology of learning, interpreting state assessment tests and counseling for college and careers.

In some local schools that have social workers on staff, they are a part of the guidance department, while other schools consider social workers part of their special education teams.

At Acton-Boxboro Regional High School, the social worker is a member of the counseling department, alongside four school psychologists and nine counselors.

Concord has one social worker at each of its three elementary schools, categorized departmentally as "counseling services." The elementary schools do not have guidance counselors. Concord Middle School has a guidance department, but does not keep a social worker on staff. Concord-Carlisle Regional High School has four social workers as well as a guidance and counseling department.

In 2009, the Tyngsboro School District brought on a districtwide social worker to its special-education department, to provide support for students with social, emotional and behavioral problems.

Billerica's social-worker program also falls under special education, providing counseling, running social skills groups and offering outreach to families. The 14 full- and part-time social workers are also instrumental in preventing bullying, said Billerica Special Education Director Judy Norton.

"I think they're vital to a district today given the different things and issues that we have to deal with," Norton said.

Each of Billerica's elementary and middle schools has at least one full-time social worker on staff, with two at the high school. The preschool has a part-time social worker.

"The issues that you would deal with at the high school are different than what you would deal with at the elementary schools," Norton said. "They're specific to the needs of the students."

At the high-school level in Wilmington, Tracy said, the current shared social worker only assists students with emotional and social disabilities.

While the high school would model a full-time social worker after the program already in place, that individual would work with the entire student population as needed.

"I'm sure we will need to hone it based on the needs of students and families but feel confident that the position will benefit students and their families with the highest needs," Tracy said.

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